ANOTHER BUILDING PLAN? … WHAT THE…????

November 10, 2009

Pledge began at 7 pm with all board members present except for Marilyn VanVleet whose deputy clerk sat in to take notes.

Motion by F.Arquette to approve the October minutes with corrections, seconded by C.Draper; approved.

Reports:

Treasurer’s Report by C.Draper:

Motion by L.VanDolsen to accept treasurer’s report, J.Fairbanks seconded; approved.

Assessor’s report by L.VanDolsen:

Last year’s SEV was increased 4.8% across the board by the State of Michigan, although the assessor was able to give 95% of residential properties a 2% decrease in the SEV. This year, the State is showing a decrease in the SEV across the board.

Clerk’s report: None

Commissioner’s report by P.Maiville:

No county budget yet; county savings still down; county employees’ hours still down; lead found in ground water north of the prison.

Cemetery report: None

Fire Board report by M.Zdebski:

182 total runs for the yr, and currently 20 runs for Sept 15-Oct 15. The thermal imaging device is in service for detecting hot spots.

Custom Heating & Cooling finished installing furnaces at Station 1.

Citizens Advisory Committee report by L.Fitz:

This committee has finalized and made available 4 reports to the twp board on planning, road safety, trash day, and lack of stimulus monies for governmental bodies in rural areas.

Next mtg will be 11/16/09 at 2pm.

Supervisor report by L.VanDolsen:

One new alternate for board of review was sworn in.

Kevin Walsh has alerted the board of a change from condo development to platted development in the land on 8 mile rd at the top of Charnes’ hill.

Midget Lake homeowners would like SAD (Special Assessment District) process begun now as most of their property owners are year around residents, and the permits from DEQ take so long to obtain.

VanDolsen’s conference on SAD in Tustin was well attended and very informative. It seems SAD is often used by smaller townships to offset the costs of infrastructure renovations.

Correspondence: None

Public comment:

Barb Maiville requests signage on 11 mile rd for school bus stops.

F.Arquette made motion to purchase signage with county recommendations to be placed at above location by county, C.Draper seconded; passed.

Phil Maiville reports that Luther corners are now straightened out.

Under Old Biz:

· Contract bid accepted from Pete Shakinas for lawn care, and cemetery upkeep; Steve Riggs for snowplowing; Action Pest Control for monthly pest control; and Susan Piper’s 2 yr contract was affirmed for her second yr.

· Bids on the new furnace and installation were obtained from Custom Sheet Metal & VanMannen Heating. The consensus of the board was to set aside these bids for clarification.

· Request from assessor to replace our 11 year old, laser printer as the quality is deteriorating. J.Fairbanks made motion to purchase a Brother black & white, laser printer which holds a ream of paper for Jackpine’s price of $299.97, seconded by F.Arquette; passed.

Under New Biz:

· Reports from the Citizen’s Advisory Committee:

Trash Day-L.VanDolsen will investigate sources given for volunteers & personnel to assist in a one day, one site trash day in July.

Road Safety-L.VanDolsen would like to meet with Charlie Young, of the road commission, to develop Elk twps wish list for road work; J.Fairbanks stated he would accompany VanDolsen. J.Fairbanks made motion for L.VanDolsen to set up a meeting with C.Young of the road commission, F.Arquette seconded; passed.

Planning-accepted with excerpts read to audience.

· New office building:

A new board is once again delving into the quagmire of thinking that they will be able to build an office building to suit the needs of this community on a shoestring budget. This time around, J.Fairbanks (who ran for office with the desire to stop frivolous spending), has drawn up plans for a post & beam 40 x 28 separate building, not to be tied into the old structure which will (according to initial plans) be retained for meetings and artifacts. This building will host 4 offices, a single unisex bathroom, records room, mechanical room, and a space for a small kitchen area and waiting room (with a cathedral ceiling). His idea is for a green office building sporting electrical hydronic floor system, on demand electrical water heaters, and electric furnace. His materials & permits costs would be $30,977.54 without any labor.

After much discussion which included a desire for town hall meetings where everyone could drink coffee and margueritas, it was concluded that more discussion was needed before a discussion could take place.

Public Comment-

Vicki Gates suggested to the board that they review what projects could be funded by the monies collected by millage for the road fund.

Phil Maiville suggested using portable partitions for offices if indeed a new building was built.

Motion to adjourn was seconded, and passed at 9:20pm.